Dusted Features

Listed: King Midas Sound + Mincemeat or Tenspeed

King Midas Sound

King Midas Sound is the duo of Kevin Martin (a.k.a. The Bug) and poet Roger Robinson. The two have been working on and off together since 2001, when Robinson contributed to Martin’s Techno Animal single, “Dead Man’s Curse.” This time around, however, Robinson isn’t just talking. He’s singing along to Martin’s calmest productions yet. Dusted’s Brad LaBonte wrote earlier this week of King Midas Sound’s new album for Hyperdub, Waiting For You, "[W]hen accompanied by the lighter-than-air vocals of Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi, they’re an appropriate and welcome addition to a label that typically only looks forward." Waiting for You ranked No. 10 on The Wire’s best albums of 2009, and the group’s contribution to Fact Magazine’s mp3 mix series was picked as the best of 2009. Not bad for a record that came out December 8. Martin took part in this week’s Listed.

10 Productions/Producers That Made Me Wanna Produce

1. Public Image Ltd. - Metal BoxAn incredible mixture of anti-social punk spite, avant-garde obtuseness, kosmiche repetition and dub exploration, this self produced odyssey, confused the hell out of me upon release, and still enthralls me today. Like a head on collision of Can and The Stooges, as mixed by King Tubby. Incredible

2. Public Enemy - Fear of a Black PlanetThe Bomb Squad had already hooked me on to hip hop with "Yo Bum...," but the sheer desnsity and the sonic avalanche promoted by this faultless funk assault took my head off.

3. Joy Division - CloserMartin Hannett wasn’t content to just capture an incredible band, he had the audacity to make them sound essential with his use of deep space and his love of dub techniques. Beautiful and addictive, highly emotional yet highly polished. Deceptively simple and simply brilliant.

4. Miles Davis - Bitches BrewMacero boiled up this bewitching psychedelic jazz potion, as the incredible musicians set their controls for outer space, and Teo re-assembled an audacious electric-jazz jigsaw compellingly.

5. 23 Skidoo - Seven SongsFeverish mutant funk pioneeringly produced by the band themselves with the aid of Genesis P and Throbbing Gristle in the early 1980s. Still ahead of its time.

6. Scientist - Scientist Wins the World CupSplicing and dicing the voice of reggae crooner Johnny Osbourne(amongst many others), Scientist gleefully tears up the logic rulebook and sets up a dub masterclass. Scientist knew how to deconstruct classics yet better the originals. Taught by King Tubby, how could he fail ?

8. Godflesh - StreetcleanerJustin Broadrick stripped metal of the cheese and pumped it full of sonically perverted hate, and was responsible for me believing i could get behind a mixing desk. He was actually instrumental in teaching me how to produce music during our years together as Techno Animal. Respect JKB.

9. African Headcharge - My Life in a Hole in the GroundAdrian Sherwood amplifying Headcharge’s Babylonian voodoo, as he turned reggae inside out, and torched Lee Perry’s blueprint with the aid of sampled chainsaws and ghosts in his machinery. Tribal and magical.

10. Method Man - TicalI was a total RZA fiend, hot for every one of his first wave of productions. Unbelievably raw and dirty,this martial arts fueled hip hop tour de hell, soundtracked the heart of darkness on a diet of insanely hallucinatory chronic.

Tenspeed or Mincemeat

Philadelphia’s David Harms started making music with effects pedals as Mincemeat or Tenspeed in 2006, and quickly garnered a dedicated following. Baltimore whiz Dan Deacon claimed that Harms was his favorite performer in 2007, and S-S Records head Scott Soriano wrote in the Z Gun fanzine "This is loud minimalism and full of all kinds of great ideas." Harms doesn’t use a guitar to create his noise -- just the pedals and a mixer. In fact, in Harms’ liner notes to his latest album Strange Gods (Zum), he wrote, "No synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, musical instruments." More power to him.

Instead of doing one top ten list I thought it’d be better to put my top ten number ones from ten different lists to keep it the creme de la creme. Enjoy!

Fun person to eat with on tour: Fortress of AmplitudeDavid Wightman is really good at eating. If you go to Burrito place, he’ll order a quesadilla. If you go to a hot dog place, he’ll get a milkshake. If you go to a donut place, he’ll get like 50 of these little creme filled things with a funny name that no one wants to eat. This dude was always keeping me guessing, a totally unpredictable, totally true unto itself eating style. (His music and life philosophy is also excellent, check out "This Music Is My Life.")

Best Pick Me Up Tunes for Long Car Rides after Coasting off of Crushing Defeats:Katamari Damacy video game soundtrackReally beautiful inspiring music. Always brings me back to a simpler, more joyful time in my life filled with screaming pedestrians, scornful fathers, and simple attainable goals. Perfect for when everyone hates each other and/or is really sad about all sorts of stuff.

Best Recent Record By a Philly Band: My Mind – “Path Smasher”Great 7" by a totally crucial Philly band. Kinda like the Kinks if their songs were a minute long and they never repeated a part. Comes with a lyric sheet written by one of the band member’s dad.

Best Thing Written About Music Ever: “How to Play Guitar” by David FairThe best guidance anyone could ever get, ever concerning playing music. Extremely inspiring and a big influence on me, my life as well as music.

"You can learn the names of notes and how to make chords that other people use, but that’s pretty limiting. Even if you took a few years and learned all the chords, you’d still have a limited number of options. If you ignore the chords, your options are infinite and you can master guitar playing in one day."

Best Awesome Goth Music Made by People Who May or May Not Identify as Goth: TIE! Zola Jesus and Neros Day at DisneyLandZola Jesus is getting really popular right now, so I won’t talk too much about her haunting beautiful music with a touch of Phil Spector. Nero is kinda like Castlevania themes matched with breakcore rhythms. He would definitely argue he’s not goth, BUT he does have goth fans at almost every show, AND knows a thing or two about the ways of their heart (synth strings he tells me, is the key), so I’ll let you be the judge.

Most Influental (as far as the American music underground goes) Film Composer: John CarpenterI hear this guy everywhere, all sorts of folks are cribbing his style. His movies are also amazing. The next time you listen to that slow deliberate contemporary synth record you’ve been jamming, think about how much poorer we’d all be without him. Seriously.

Best Music on TV: Monday Night Football ThemeNot that super goofy jam by Hank Williams Jr. The instrumental that’s been around forever. Equal parts epic, catchy, and downright ridiculous. One of the most conflicted and driving pieces of music running. Also excellent, for serenading that special someone.

Favorite Super Duper Limited Release That You’re Totally Not Going To Find ANYWHERE: Terrorish – The Marvelous Cosmic Space AssociationTone perfect instrumental 1970s funk made by some guy (named Rob) born in the 1980s from Murfreesboro, TN. Everything about this tape is perfect, from cover to the fidelity, totally unbelievable. Totally one of the best tapes I’ve ever heard.

Best Ring Tone on My Phone: Go-Go CartI guess this’s the best one from a musical viewpoint. Personally, I prefer vibrate mode.

Best Thing I Learned From Watching Decline of Western Civilization a million times:

If you’re in a band that people like, and you ask for "a fucking beer," someone will usually give it to you. Also, punk totally rules and Black Flag are one of the best bands of all time.